FOR OLDER "YOUNG SOULS": TWO JANE AUSTEN DECEMBER GIVEAWAYS

If you happen to be a Jane Austen fan, you're probably aware that this December not only marks the 240th year since Miss Austen's birth (December 16, 1775), but also the 200th Anniversary of the publication of her beloved Emma (published December 25, 1815).

"Where shall we see a better daughter, or a kinder sister, or a truer friend?"

To celebrate one of my all-time favorite books and authors, today I'm offering two giveaway books, for two lucky readers.  I'm also sharing a Christmas recipe and fun ornament project - for everyone!

Christmas is referenced in all of Jane Austen's novels. Christmas celebrations in Georgian England included balls, parties, wassailing, and visiting.

Here's a recipe for the traditional "wassail" drink carried in bowls by Christmas carolers as they went through neighborhoods singing Yuletide songs.

Holiday Wassail
1 gallon apple cider
1 large can pineapple juice (unsweetened)
3/4 cups hot tea

Place in cheesecloth sack:
1 T. whole cloves
1 T. whole allspice
2 sticks cinnamon

Perfect for the crockpot: Let simmer on low very slowly 4-6 hours (add water if needed). Serve warm.  Garnish with orange slices (splash of rum, optional).  Serves 20 [source]  There are many variations of Wassail - go here for more on Pinterest.

Next, I found a fun ornament project for your Christmas tree - or for that Jane Austen Party you've always wanted to have! (Both the recipe and project are from Jane Austen.co.uk. The website suggests using old book pages from a discarded Jane Austen novel. But of course, you could always photo copy a page - double sided - if you can't bring yourself to cut up one of Jane's books.)

Create a Jane Austen Christmas tree ornament - go here.

Ornament Project
1. Cut the page into 8 strips about 3/4" wide.
2. Set 2 strips aside.  Then cut 1/2" from 2 other strips; 1" from two more; and 1 and 1/2" from the remaining two strips.
3. Stack strips into two piles, with the longest strip on the bottom of each pile and so on, until the shortest strips are on top.
4.  Place the two piles together, face to face, with the shortest strips on the inside. Then staple the bottom of the strips together.
5.  Gently guide and line the top ends together, turning down this stack of ends down by turning both sides to the inside of the heart, pinching them together.
6. Staple the top ends together, inside the heart.
7. Form a loop of ribbon, and place it in the center where the strips meet.
8. Staple the strips together again, a bit higher, making sure the ribbon is caught.
9. Add a bow to the front with glue (hot glue gun works best).

On to the giveaways!  I'm delighted to offer you, dear readers, not one, but two books.

Giveaway #1 
My first giveaway book is in honor of Jane Austen's Birthday (December 16, 1775)...

Giveaway #1

A Jane Austen Christmas, Celebrating the Season of Romance, Ribbons, & Mistletoe. "Carlo DeVito provides an intimate portrait of Austen's most cherished Christmas memories with her family: from the gift of her first writing desk, to her first love and heartbreak, to her brewing mead and beer in time for the holidays. Along the way readers will spend a holiday in the Austen house, celebrate Jane's birthday, meet the inspiration for more than a dozen characters, attend the Christmastide series of balls, and learn how to make family's favorite recipes and dedicate a novel to the Prince Regent. Remarkably fresh and supremely entertaining, A Jane Austen Christmas brings Austen's world to life as never before."

Giveaway #2
I just love Miss Woodhouse and Mr. Knightley!! My second giveaway book is in celebration of Emma turning 200 on December 25, 2015...

Giveaway #2

Emma: 200th-Anniversary Annotated Edition (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) with introduction by the book's editor, Juliette Wells.  She refers to it as a reader's edition as opposed to a scholarly one and has included maps, a glossary, several contextual essays, and illustrations of earlier editions of Emma.

Giveaway Details...

There will be one winner for each of the two giveaway books. The giveaway starts today, December 8 and ends on December 15.  Winners will be announced on Jane's birthday, December 16!

Please enter the giveaway by using the Rafflecopter box below:

(Click the left/right arrows to make sure you enter both giveaways!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Clueless?

I've got a couple of festive giveaways coming up tomorrow to celebrate the fact that December is a special literary month.  Here's a clue...
 

St. Nicholas Day is Almost Here! Are You Ready? (He's Coming to a Home, Church, Town Near You on December 6th!)

Our family and parish has always loved celebrating St. Nicholas Day, and today I'd like to tell you about a website that I know you'll find invaluable for your own family's celebration of this special saint and his day.

Why St. Nicholas vs. Santa; and why Dec. 6th vs 25th?

Was St. Nicholas a real person?

Why secret gift giving?

You can find answers to the above questions and more here, on this incredible website, devoted to families and all things St. Nicholas on the St. Nicholas Center website.

When you visit stnicholascenter.org and you'll also find:

crafts
recipes

online books & stories

celebrating at home
st. nicholas and our american christmas customs
around-the-world celebrations

How about an 8 year old's perspective? I hope you take time to listen to this fun interview, "The Real St. Nick", about the difference between St. Nicholas and Santa - from the perspective of an 8 year old boy: http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/closetohome/the_real_st_nick

And don't miss this beautiful picture book, "Saint Nicholas & the Nine Gold Coins" by Jim Forest. This beautifully told story of St. Nicholas and the dowry gold, seamlessly includes historical background and Jesus' teachings. Illustrated by Vladislov Andrejev, with rich, full-color iconographic art - available here.

You can also read my past posts from my Advent and Christmas Resource Page: 

• "A Timeline for St. Nicholas" here
• JRR Tolkien's "Letters from Fr. Chistmas" here.

How the New York City Public Library Landed a Spot in Macy's Christmas Windows...

We spent our Thanksgiving in New York, visiting my daughter, son-in-law, and two sweet grandsons.  Of course, we made time to meander the city, checking out this year's Christmas windows...

Macy's, at Herald Square, has been displaying a "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" series of windows the past few years that not only celebrates Christmas, but the New York Public Library! 

The story that unfolds in the sequence of windows is that Virginia goes to the library, where an enthusiastic librarian helps her learn all about the different traditions of Santa Claus from different cultures.

And though the library doesn't directly tell 8-year-old Virginia whether Santa is real, it is indirectly responsible for the answer she finally gets; because she sees The Sun newspaper while at the library and is inspired to write to the editor and ask him, "...is there a Santa Claus?"

And we all know what he replied, back in 1897:
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence.

One thing I really love about New York City is how it fully embraces Christmas, and doesn't shy away from the message of Christmas!  We heard beautiful Christmas carols everywhere we went, lingered as we gazed up at the angels in the tree at the Metropolitan Museum of Art,  and made a quick stop to see the huge Advent wreath at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

I have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season.  My daughter and my grandson made this beautiful little banner out of book pages to welcome us!  I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are looking forward in anticipation to our Lord's coming!

On My December Bookshelf: Some New Additions to My Christmas Favorites Book List

I should have actually titled this: "Books Strewn Across My December Hearth".  I love collecting children's books, and I'm always excited about sharing my Christmas favorites with you!

You can read about many of the books shown above on my Christmas Book Resource Page (a page where I've listed my favorite Christmas books and my reviews. The list can be especially helpful if you want to make an Advent Calendar of Books!)  

But today I'm recommending some new favorites, that I've discovered since I made my original list.  So here they are, the...

NEWEST ADDITIONS TO MY CHRISTMAS BOOK LIST:

When It Snows
Read my post "A Snowy Book that Will Warm Your Heart" here.

Woodland Nutcracker
Read my post "SWEET FOR THE SUITE": An Award-Winning Canadian Nutcracker Story Inspired by Bears!" here.

A Christmas Carol 
Read my post "How Dickens Helped Saved Christmas", here.

Hans Brinker
Read my post "The Beautiful, Frozen World of Hans Brinker (From the Hand of Gifted Artist, Laurel Long!)",  here.

St. Nicholas and the Nine Gold Coins
Mentioned in my post, "A Giveaway for St. Nicholas Day", here.










The Night Before Christmas, illustrated by Robert Ingpen
Read my review here.

Let it Snow, a Toot & Puddle story.
My Review: here.

Little Grey Rabbit's Christmas (reminds me of Peter Rabbit!)
Read my review.

Little Porcupine's Christmas. Go to my review here.

The Christmas Angels, a sweet book (first published in Germany in 1933!). Read my review.

A Giveaway for St. Nicholas Day!

As mentioned in my last post, to celebrate crossing 1,000 likes on my Good Books Facebook Page, I'm going to be hosting several giveaways throughout this holiday season.  

Here's the first one, a special "St. Nicholas Bundle" sponsored by EmiliasPost (the package will arrive at your house just in time for St. Nicholas Day!)...

The Saint Nicholas Bundle features:

• 4 hand-illustrated postcards (featuring Saint Nicholas on the front and postcard design on back)
• 1 bag of St. Nicholas chocolate gold coins (by Paidea Classics)
• 1 handmade St. Nicholas cookie cutter with a cookie recipe
• 1 “Life of St. Nicholas” card with instructions for celebrating his feast day

This is seriously the sweetest bundle of goodies from EmiliasPost, an Etsy shop that a young friend of mine recently started.  As a busy mom, she and a friend wanted to find some way they could help Syrian refugees - so they came up with the idea of selling the bundles on her Etsy page to benefit IOCC's Syrian Relief Fund. 

Traditionally, the chocolate gold coins are put in children's shoes that have been left out on the night of December 5th for St. Nicholas' visit.  But they make great stocking stuffers too!

I can't fail to mention this year's book recommendation for St. Nicholas Day on December 6th:  St. Nicholas and the Nine Gold Coins by Jim Forest, luminously illustrated by Vladislav Andreyev. 

...the popular perception of Saint Nicholas today diverges greatly from his original veneration as a compassionate almsgiver and defender of the poor. Saint Nicholas has been reduced to the pop culture fi gure of Santa Claus, a jolly old man who brings presents to good little boys and girls. Th is book reacquaints those boys and girls with the authentic Santa Claus—Nicholas, a man who found greatness not simply in spreading "good cheer," but in being a true icon of Jesus Christ in word and deed.

Just as St. Nicholas gave gold coins to help the poor, I hope you take time this Advent season to teach your children to consider those who are poor and needy.

Everybody does Black Friday shopping, how about some Advent Giving...
I know this is a busy time with Thanksgiving approaching and with December right around the corner!  But I hope you'll stop by EmiliasPost Etsy Shop and (in the spirit of St. Nicholas) consider purchasing a St. Nicholas Bundle to send to someone special this December.
The St. Nicholas Bundles are $20, which includes shipping; 100% of the proceeds goes to IOCC Syrian Relief. You can also donate directly through IOCC here.

But back to my Celebratory GIVEAWAY! 
Leave a comment for your chance to win this bundle of joy...

• You have from today through Sunday, November 29, 2015 to post a comment here and/or on Facebook for a chance to win the St. Nicholas Bundle.
• Comments closed at midnight.  
• Winner announced on Monday, November 30, 2015. 

Please watch and come back to see if you're the winner, then email me your address so EmiliasPost can get the bundle mailed out to you in time for St. Nicholas Day!
UPDATE 11/30/15: Thanks to everyone who participated in this giveaway! Congratulations to my giveaway winner, Maria, who is one of my Good Books For Young Souls Facebook followers.

One Thousand Facebook Followers? Kindred Spirits!

Wow, yesterday my Good Books For Young Souls Facebook Page hit 1,000 "likes"!  I realize that many of you who follow my blog, follow me on Facebook as well - so thank you!  And thanks to all you Facebook followers who've made it over here to the blog, and take time to read my posts!

To celebrate, I'm planning some fun giveaways.  Watch Facebook for updates!

Nice to know there are so many "Kindred Spirits" out there in Facebookland who enjoy children's books as much as I do!